Chinese Gamer Segmentation Study

The Chinese Gamer Segmentation Study provides the first comprehensive look at who Chinese gamers really are.

Why gamers play is as important as what they play and how much, and is critical to understanding them as gamers — and as consumers. Understanding how gaming preferences, motivations, and demographic variables group together enables targeting those segments with more precise marketing messages and acquisition channels. Fine-tuning player targeting is all the more important in the increasingly competitive gaming landscape. Pairing gaming motivations with digital consumption preferences provides a unique lens into what different kinds of gamers want and how to reach them.

This report brings together our expertise built on 16 years of analysis in the Asia games market with study partner Quantic Foundry’s Gamer Motivation Model and data science methods to produce a first-of-its-kind, in-depth study into the motivations and behaviors of Chinese gamers.

PUBLISHED APRIL 2018

$12,000

Motivation profiles and demographics of the main Chinese gamer segments

Qualitative and quantitative analysis, by segment, on gamer behavior, demand, spending, and usage across

Gaming platforms

Games

Game genres

Movies

Video streaming

Live streaming

Social media

Online shopping

Online media

96 slides with 56 data exhibits

Key takeaways from the analysis:

The report surfaced six distinct sets of gamers:

Hardcore mobile gamers

Hardcore mobile gamers play 25+ hours per week, primarily complex games on their smartphones.

Hardcore PC gamers

Hardcore PC gamers play 42+ hours per week, playing primarily challenging match-based games on high end PCs.

Casual gamers

Casual gamers average 12 hours per week, across platforms but with the majority of their time spent on mobile, playing casual games.

Casual demolitionists

Casual demolitionists play an average of 16.5 hours a week. They love competition and excitement, but prefer less complex gameplay.

Super consumers

Super consumers have the highest income of all segments, and are voracious digital consumers and early adopters. They rack up more than 40 hours of gaming, across all platforms

Core gamers

The largest segment, core gamers are true gaming enthusiasts. They average 18 hours of play per week, and also like to talk about and interact with gaming-related content.

The study also shows the gaming, movie, live streaming, online shopping and other behaviors of each of the segments.

Almost all gamers in China spend significant time playing games on their smartphones, even hardcore PC gamers

The most popular games for all gamers in China, regardless of segment are League of Legends on PC and Honor of Kings on mobile.

The majority of all segments attend movies in the theater either opening day or week of release

Attending movies at the movie theater is vastly more popular than watching movies at home.

The majority of gamers are video and live streaming, Core gamers are more likely to consume both game live streams and video streaming, whereas casual gamers are more likely to consume film, comedy and talk show streams.